Think Dating's Hard? Try Being Druze

It's hard enough to find the man you're going to marry — imagine if you're working with a fraction of the number most of us are.

That's the case if you're Druze, a tiny Arab religion that requires both of the spouses to be Druze in order to have a Druze wedding and raise their children in the religion. There are just 1 million Druze in the world, with 300,000 in the States (via The Atlantic). And so, singles mixers at Druze conventions are held in order to match up twentysomethings, and many wind up in long-distance relationships (out of state, or even out of country).

Fatin Harfouch, 23, now engaged to a Druze man that she met at one such convention after months of platonic Facebook messaging, says, "I think it's hard for young people today who are raised here in the U.S., who are not around Druze people all the time, who, in a school of 5,000 people might be the only Druze person. The Druze part is just a small portion of who they are. So I think coming to a convention is bringing it to the forefront of their mind ... and they can meet people who are just like them."

One famous example of a Druze marrying outside her faith is George Clooney's fiancée, Amal Alamuddin. But for others like Rima Muakkassa, the vice president of the American Druze Society, "It would have come down to marrying Druze, or not marrying at all."

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